Burns' Night in Beijing...

.... and we ended up at a Ceilidh in a hutong - with David on the bagpipes, natch!

Celebrations - a word of warning...

When everything is going swimmingly, it's easy to get carried away.  With this in mind, here is a fable from our weekend from which several lessons can be learned.

We celebrated with (yet another) champagne brunch on Sunday.  Ben and I left our suitcase with the concierge, who asked for our phone number, because "sometimes people go champagne brunch, drinks champagne, more champagne, go 'woooh' (*crazy action with hands*) 'woooh' and forget their luggage! hahahahahaaaaa"  Oh, how we laughed with this charming man!  'What idiots,' we thought, 'would do that?'

As predicted, there was excessive champagne and huge gluttony (see above), combined with much laughter at 'those idiots' who 'woooooh forget their luggage'.... Then, still laughing and joking, we collected our luggage and headed back to the apartment.  Up in the lift we went, and what fun we were having!  Until... 

"who's got the luggage?"

"Erm, not me - I was carrying the flowers and champagne!"

"Erm, not me either" 

*moment of realisation* "THE TAXI!!!"  

Yes, that's right, we'd left the luggage in the taxi... which was long gone... in a city with c. 70,000 taxis.  That's the luggage that included our laptop, my passport with all the painstakingly acquired visas for our upcoming trip, my brand spanking new electronic Chinese dictionary.... and more.  By way of a few phone calls and a large dose of luck, we retrieved the luggage, and all of its contents.  So, what can we learn from this? 

1. Take heed of the concierge!  He is a wise man.

2. Always hold on to all scraps of paper - you never know, one might have the taxi numberplate on it!

3. Don't put your passport in your suitcase, even if you think it's safer there than in your handbag while you are testing your liver's capacity for bubbly....

Harbin's incredible 11th Ice and Snow Festival, 2010

Dave and I took a weekend trip to Harbin Ice and Snow festival, 2 hours by plane NE of Beijing in Heilongjiang province, where the temperature has been known to drop to -40C in winter.  Luckily for us, when we arrived at midnight, it was a relatively balmy -23C, and we happily skidded on sheets of ice across town in pimped up taxi.

 

I have never been anywhere like Harbin, or anywhere that cold and wintry, so I found it particularly interesting.  In fact, I felt like an intrepid explorer in all my layers and with self-heating wonder packs tucked under my bra straps to keep me warm from the core!

 

The Songhua river completely freezes over, and essentially provides a massive new expanse of land on which to create a winter playground, including your usual, run-of-the-mill-for-us-Beijingers chair-skating and ice-biking opportunities (see previous post), ice slides, snowmobiles, buggies and a rally track on the ice! (Very Top Gear...)

 

The ice festival was simply the most mind-boggling thing I have ever seen in China, and definitely one of the best.  The photos above give some indication, more of mine can be found here and here, and some of photographer R. Todd King (who goes every other year to take pictures!) can be found on his website, and give a good idea of just how impressive the festival is.

 

There were ice Terracotta Warriors and an ice Forbidden City (both decidedly better than their stone counterparts!), as well as other famous buildings and recognisable objects, such as the World Cup trophy, the Colosseum, the Temple of Apollo and the Great Wall of China.  All made out of ice (natch!), and with some reaching over 50 metres high.

 

The festival is now in its 11th year, and I would be interested to know whose idea it was in the first place to mine all of this ice, and sculpt it over a period of weeks in temperatures that get as low as -40C.... Rather them than me!  Of course, all the Chinese love it when the sculptures are all lit up, but I am glad we went early to see them in the daylight and the sunshine, as in the evening, while impressive, the effect is a little tacky for my tastes!

 

We also visited the bizarrely-named "Sun Island", where the Snow Sculpture Art exhibition/competition is held.  Unfortunately, the weather was quite overcast on Sunday and so the light was not the best for viewing these sculptures - but even so, they were very impressive.

 

On the food and evening entertainment front, Dave and I were a little less successful...!  First, we were exhausted by the cold weather and the lack of food (for some reason, the pot noodles and cold plates of sausage and fake cheese didn't provide much sustenance...).  Then, we headed to a bar recommended online (NB: it looked a lot of fun, with photos of people dancing on the bar etc!) but on arrival, we found it to be completely empty and freezing cold.  Top that off with a beer that is half empty before it's been served to you, and you'll understand why we polished the beers off with a quick game of "lowest card drinks" before heading back to the hotel for some quality time with Jack Bauer.  In hindsight, we may have been better off aiming for a bar which warns of the frequent and violent Korean vs. Russian brawls!

A Chinese fairground on ice: chair-skating, ice-biking and sheep-sleighs...

We took a trip to Houhai at the weekend, to see what the Beijingers get up to when the lakes are frozen solid - and what an icy wonderland awaited!  We set about hiring some skates, but instead were tempted by the other imaginative delights on offer - ice bikes, chairs with blades, carriages pulled by life size, mechanical dolls, ice dodgems and - - - a sleigh pulled by a sheep!  Yes, a giant, real-life sheep, wearing little hoof-protectors, giving rides around the ice in a small 'sleigh'.  It had to be seen to be believed, but take a look at the pictures below for an indication....

We had a lot of fun on our bikes, even though - unsurprisingly - the steering was a bit skew-whiff (and God forbid you got a wheel or blade stuck in an ice rut!) and the brakes a little ineffective.  Despite the vast range of things on offer, many people chose to brave the ice simply in their shoes, slipping all over the place but getting stuck in with the hoopla and sausages on a stick nonetheless.... a dangerous decision considering the speed everyone is careering around at!  

 

After an hour of racing around, we decided to try the chairs - definitely one of the safer ways to hit the ice, even taking into account the accompanying pair of 2-foot long spikes with handles for pushing yourself around at pace.  Of course, some bright spark had the idea of forming as long a chain as possible on the ice, led by a brave man on a bike - Cue: chaos!  Then, as if it's not enough entertainment for one afternoon, a crazy man stripped down to his speedos, sang for 10 minutes in the -6 degrees and dived right in (to the special area cordoned off for swimmers in winter, natch...).

Just another afternoon in China!  If only we had proper winters in the UK - and fewer safety regulations...

Karaoke (cont.)

What is life without a warble? Lisa, Sophie, Dave and I have been joined by various others at Cashbox Partyworld, our KTV joint of choice, at several recent outings, lasting 4-5 hours a time. If you estimate about 45 minutes per person, everyone should leave satisfied!

Classic tunes turned out to be My Way, Macarena, My Humps, Mambo Number 5 (the machine is a little difficult to use, so it seems we worked our way largely through the Ms...). And while we attempted some Cui Jian, it has to be said that, on my part, it was only my stance that resembled him.

I'd like to pay tribute to the efforts and stamina of all involved, as evidenced below - take your bows please!

And my personal favourite.....

Round up....

Well, since the decision to shut down my blog for a few weeks was made for me, I have been doing so many blogworthy things (after all, it's not worth doing, if it's not worth blogging about, right Rich?) that I don't know where to start! Here are a few snippets...

Lisa and Sophie came to visit! - and what a good time was had by all! Here we are celebrating the safe arrival of them, their luggage AND some funds (take note - Tonks!), and BGD is also seen getting into the spirit of it all and living up to his nickname..... We rounded off the evening with a mere 5 hours of KTV (post to follow).

Brunch - SO good. Champagne, seafood, live jazz, magicians, calligraphy, the best smoked salmon you can imagine and an enormous dessert station with delectable chocolate pots - the Hilton Wangfujing is our new Sunday brunch venue of choice. Here I am enjoying my first Cosmo of the day (and people wonder why I love it here):
Tini taxi - these have a proper name, but I've forgotten it. They seem to be designed for c. 1-2 Chinese-sized people, yet Lisa, Soph and I took a 20 minute journey in uncomfortable-yet-hilarious conditions, at a pace just above walking.On the topic of transport, we also happened upon this little bike, which struck me as a little Inspector-Gadget-like and worthy of a mention. I especially like the patriotic touch:

Food - as winter has fallen upon Beijing, we seized the opportunity to indulge in the messy food fest that is hot pot, and took a trip to the Maizidian'r Jiaoziguan'r, which serves up amazing multi-coloured jiaozi, some of which have crunchy rice particles in them. Delicious! I was dismayed to learn that my guests had been forewarned about the 'terrible food in China', 'not like the Chinese food you're used to' etc - it's a common misconception, fuelled largely, I imagine, by tourists who speak no Chinese, who end up at a point-and-hope restaurant eating chicken lung and the like. Chinese food in China (and particularly in Beijing - though I could be jiaozi-biased) is delicious! Anything plied with MSG can't be that bad, right? ;-) Seriously though, it's great and hugely varied - after all, China is unimaginably massive! You should come and try it... just not while I'm here though, I'm afraid - I'm booked up until March!

To the left, to the left....

Dave bought me a ticket to see Beyonce for my birthday - thanks Dave! Here we are enjoying ourselves....:
And here is Beyonce, giving it her all:
What was weird about this concert is that there was no support act and no encore - despite the HUGE efforts to encourage one, that rendered us hoarse. Apparently a "get them on, get them off" attitude is the norm for China, which is a bit of a shame! Other than that, it was a great concert - she has an amazing, strong voice, and I was suitably impressed.

It was also entertaining to see the usual tricks fall a bit flat on a non-English speaking audience ("Say my name, say my name........" [silence]). It must have been pretty tough to perform in such a foreign environment, especially without the benefit of a warm-up act, and with the added encumbrance of enhanced security in the area directly in front of the stage, where standing up, dancing or generally having a good time seemed to be prohibited!

Finally, it has to be said that my enjoyment of the evening was certainly enhanced by my three male companions, who spent the entire evening with their tongues hanging out and their eyes out on stalks, letting out involuntary giggles and yelps of pleasure and excitement as Beyonce reappeared in a variety of sparkly, revealing outfits. You can but imagine how this enthusiasm for her, ahem, "talent" was magnified by the close-up projections on an enormous screen!

Sunny Shanghai

Dave is planning to move to Shanghai early next year, and as we have seen many of the tourist sights before, we set about discovering what you might do if you actually lived in the city. Cocktails, dim sum (at the reasonably-priced and tasty Crystal Jade, which I believe is a Singaporean chain) and a wander around the network of tiny lanes around Taikang Lu (home of the now famous Chinese-speaking bird), full of interesting art galleries, coffee shops and small boutiques. It was here that I had my first good coffee in China - and a big one at that!

We met up with Dom, a colleague of mine, and enjoyed another few cocktails at Constellation, though my first choice wouldn't have been the toxic mix of lemon juice, vodka, red wine and sugar.... each to their own! We then enjoyed Yunan food at Lost Heaven on GaoYou, which was a lovely place with tasty food. I have been consistently surprised at how upmarket many of the bars and restaurants in Shanghai are, especially when compared to those in Beijing. There is a corresponding price difference though - applicable to dining, drinks and taxis - which could have a significant impact on my new found life of luxury if I were to live here longterm! It would certainly be a nice place to lead a comfortable life, but people's incomprehensible accents and Shanghaianese itself could provide some hurdles!

As you would expect, Shanghai is a much more modern and Westernised city than Beijing, but it retains a pleasant mix of old and new, and wandering around the tree-lined streets of the French concession is lovely. How long this charm will survive in the face of tower blocks and skyscrapers as the business district expands is anyone's guess...

After dinner, we took a break from cocktail bars and headed to Time Passage - a pub-like venue that is much more the Beijing scene! Live music and cheap beers made for a fun evening, and we played a few Chinese-language pranks which is always a good source of amusement...! On Sunday morning, it only seemed right to work through the hangover with a champagne brunch. This was a very civilised affair, largely because the courses were served to the table and explained to us in detail by the waiting staff, and the Veuve Cliquot was free-flowing - delightful! I was born for a life like this. The Jesubites among you might spot a familiar face - yes, we bumped into Alison while in Shanghai - she was on holiday there from Australia! It's a small world, and I always love catching up with friendly faces around the globe....

We decided to sleep off the champagne at the Jazz Festival in Century Park on Pudong. It was nice and leafy, and reasonably quiet for a music festival (and in fact for any spot of Chinese land), so I had a good nap until the sun went down and it got a bit chilly...

We moved on to the "Rock Stage" (what this and an "electrograss" stage were doing as two of the three stages at a jazz festival is beyond me....) and 'rocked out' there for a while. One of the group had heard good things about the headline act, Cui Jian, who was on at 7, and told us a bit of the background. As you can see from the Wiki link if you're interested, Cui Jian is a bit of a political icon in China, and one of his songs, "Nothing to My Name" became an anthem to the student protesters during the Tiananmen protests. In c. 1990, one of his concerts was stopped by police, and the rest of the tour cancelled, when he wore a red blindfold on stage while performing. He allegedly avoided excommunication by "donating" one million yuan to pay for the Asian games in 1990....

In any event, he has a legion of fans in China, all of whom know the words and embrace his music and performances enthusiastically. Towards the start of his set, an enormous, inflatable hammer and sickle was carried down to the front of the audience and it all together made for an exciting performance. I am now learning the lyrics for my next karaoke outing (and intend to adopt his distinctive gestures) and joining that legion of fans for the time being!

trip to tropical paradise

Tola and I decided to treat ourselves to a weekend away in Langkawi, and although I had been keen to really explore Singapore, when the time came I was definitely pleased that we were able to escape the hustle and bustle of Asian cities for a few days!

We chose to splash out, and my God was it worth it! I cannot recommend the Bon Ton Resort enough! Tola and I arrived and were greeted with a glass of chilled white wine, before being shown around our Malay villa for 5 people (long story....). Each villa is uniquely decorated, and we stayed in 'Silk', which was over 100 years old. The pool was inviting and the food and cocktails were delicious and reasonably priced - what more could you want?
We got off to a slightly awkward start when, having brushed off all the references to romantic strolls along the moonlit beach and cosy dinners for two, we returned to our villa to find only one of the queen beds turned down for the night! While it is a very romantic destination, for sure, it is also a perfect venue for a relaxing weekend away with the girls!

Needless to say, the attentive service and stunning surroundings meant that we were not too keen to leave the resort - especially as it was just SO relaxing! In the end we did venture out for a brief shopping excursion, and we (convinced ourselves that we had) fulfilled our Malaysian culture quota with a huge Malaysian meal put on by the hotel. This included about 12 traditional Malay dishes, all of which were incredibly tasty, and enjoyed around a large table with some nice people. I have requested the recipes, so I'll keep you posted!